Coupling between biomass growth and hydraulic properties of porous systems

Permeable systems can accommodate the flow of fluids through their porous structure that is characterized by solid impermeable grains and empty volumes (the pores). Biofilms are complex and heterogeneous aggregates of communities of microorganisms adhered together, and biofilm growth will affect the evolution of the pore system, such as changing the morphology and structure of grains and reduce the porosity in the host media, and then result in significant alteration in hydrodynamic and transport properties of the porous media. So far, this has been overlooked. Thus, we develope an experimental method to measure the flow through a microfluidics replica of a homogeneous porous medium while imposing a macroscopic pressure gradient. With this novel set-up, we explore the influence of the pore structure that is altered by the growth of biofilms on the hydraulic permeability of porous media.